SUCCESS IN TENNIS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19374, 24 December 1932, Page 16

SUCCESS IN TENNIS

SECRET REVEALED Right-moment-to-stroke One of the secrets of success in tennis is to choose the right moment to strike. Old-time champions had this characteristic and some of the present-day star:; possess it (writes M. Henry Marsh, in the Sydney “Sun”). Read what Norman Brookes said to Ellsworth Vines!

Brookes who first put Australia on the tennis map and was without doubt the greatest world’s player of his day, was asked by the present champion, Vines, about when and where he had met Bill Tllden, and the result.

They met in New York in 1919 on the way home after the years of war service. Norman was not then the player of pre-war days, and he explained how he had led Tilden 5-4 with his own service to follow, but he could not clinch the set, whereas in the heyday of his tennis career he would never have missed a chance. Vines remarked: “That’s me.”

Such is the moment chosen by the champions to press hard to win, putting a little extra pace into the cervice, and more power into the drive, smash, or volley.

One of the secrets of their success is this choosing of the right moment to strike. It was exemplified by two incidents in the American’s matches in Sydney—the crashing service with which Vines took the match against Jack • Crawford, and the hard forehand cross-court drive by Vivian McGrath which finally gave him the victory over Wilmer Allison. The Attacking Game. Discussing doubles tennis with John van Ryan, we touched on certain points of interest. One was the fact that when receiving service in their doubles in Sydney both the Americans have almost invariably stood back, instead of one up one back (the receiver). Van Ryan points out. however, that this was only because their returns since arrival in , Sydney had not been good enough to stand in on as a rule, but that once the returns are satisfactory they do play the attacking game.

It is noticeable that they come in closer to the net to volley than the majority of our men. especially Allison, though they stand some distance back when stationed at the net with the partner serving. By standing back he is not threatening the receiver, because the ball can be hit to such a net man without danger, whereas were he right on the net it could be taken with a stiff wrist and so placed as to win outright. The Americans, though they favour the long grip, as opposed to the former short one of the greatest Australian volleyers, make no mistake in the method, of hitting the ball. It travels fast from the racket, and is seldom returned. whereas the majority of pre-sent-day Australians chop their volleys. A chopped volley is nearly always ‘"-burnable, as it sits up and waits until you r — '• It has come into

vogue here because most of our leading players do not get in close enough to the net. They therefore have to take the ball near the ground. If they hit it hard and fail to chop it, the ball flies out.

This failure to get into position in doubles is responsible for Australia’s slipping from the acknowledged first place to one much farther back. Peep Into Past. Australia’s best pairs for more than a decade were almost unbeatable. They hugged the net. they volleyed with a stiff wrist for winners, net to keep the ball in play with the chop. They took risks along the net, upsetting the receivers, and they forced the pace. There was no defence, save in dire extremity; it was attack from the first service to the last. Take our Australian champion. Jack Crawford. He returns the service magnificently, but when serving himself seldom gets beyond the service line on his way to the net. Often not so far as that. In most cases the return comes to his feet. He has to half volley, low volley, or play the difficult rising ball, and therefore gives vantage he himself as the server should be gaining. Jack is very wonderful in such a position; but is he or any other man able to hand over to an opponent so much, and so unnecessarily? He should attack when serving, but often because of this failing, he becomes the defender instead.

The danger lies in the adoption of such methods by the thousands of youngsters now learning the game. Let young Australia remodel the doubles game on that of the past, remembering, when the objective is the net, to get close to it. The ball falls as a rule soon after it crosses it. Therefore, if you are well in you take it above or on a level with the top of the net, and can hit it hard, but if further back, you must take it carefully. lifting it over the net, as it were. Coming back to the American team for a moment, the ideal one for Davis Cup purposes is thought to be H. E. Vines and W. Allison for the singles; G. M. Lott and J. van Ryan for the Ldoubles.